An attendee of 2012's Consumer Electronics Show uses an interface on a refrigerator using LG's newest Smart ThinQ technology.

Written by

Jon Swartz
Gannett/USA Today

No one lives there, but it is a template for the future. Indeed, many houses throughout the USA already have hints of Microsoft's model home. Might this be a working blueprint for better things, of a life that just decades ago seemed possible only in the world of science fiction?

What once seemed conceivable only on The Jetsons is a real prospect in the next few years. If you've heard these utopian and futuristic promises before, only to be disappointed, this story is for you. Because as Americans embrace 2013 and the new year that is upon us, know this: The future of American homes is now.